The sighs of relief could be heard from Bantry Bay to Belfast last night. Irish grand slam hopes are still intact but yesterday's white-knuckle victory over England simply emphasised the cliffhanger quality of this year's Six Nations. If Ireland really are on the road to paradise, their supporters will have been driven halfway to distraction by the time they meet Wales in a potential Celtic title decider in Cardiff on March 19.

There were certainly very few arms raised in triumph at the final whistle because all involved were uncomfortably aware of how close England came to spoiling the hosts' party plans. Without one moment of tightrope-walking magic from their captain Brian O'Driscoll, and significant assistance from the South African referee Jonathan Kaplan, this might easily have been a sobering addition to the long list of bitter Irish disappointments.

England hardly knew whether to laugh or cry. This was their best 80-minute performance of the championship so far but the end result was painfully familiar. Not for 18 years have they endured such a blank start to a championship and this was their ninth reverse in 12 Tests. But this was also the afternoon when they clawed back a measure of self-respect. On another day, with another referee, they might have bade farewell to the old, grey stadium with a much cheerier wave.

Instead Andy Robinson was left to bemoan two decisions which may well have swung the game: the rejection of what he felt was a "perfectly legal" try by Mark Cueto a couple of minutes before half-time and another negative verdict in the closing minutes when Steve Thompson and Josh Lewsey were convinced that England hands were on the ball at the bottom of a driven maul over the Irish line.

Kaplan disallowed Cueto's effort, the suggestion being the Sale winger had been fractionally in front of his club-mate Charlie Hodgson when the latter delivered his well judged cross-kick, and in the second instance awarded Ireland a scrum which ranked among the season's most eye-catching get-out-of-jail-free cards. The last time the English crossed paths with Kaplan was in their 36-3 drubbing by New Zealand in Dunedin last June and they will be in no hurry to renew his acquaintance.

In Robinson's view, both key decisions should have gone "upstairs" to the video referee who, he suspected, would have ensured the scoreline did not end up mirroring last season's Irish win over England at Twickenham. "The referee's in charge. He calls it his way and you have to cope with it," sighed England's head coach.

It was rough justice on Lewsey, a buzzing threat throughout, and the back-row duo of Martin Corry and Lewis Moody, who put their bodies - poisoned fingers and all - on the line throughout. Both scrum and lineout stood up to scrutiny and Hodgson, Thompson and the new prop Matt Stevens all had satisfying games in character-forming circumstances. Compared with the feast served up by France and Wales the previous day this was meat and potatoes, served on a chill, blustery afternoon, but at no stage was it short on bite or interest.

It also contained one sublime moment for which Irishmen will forever be grateful. If their closing trio of fixtures against England, France and Wales represent Ireland's steps to rugby heaven, step one owed most to the supernatural awareness of O'Driscoll in the 58th minute. It was the captain's superb miss-pass which freed Denis Hickie for the initial break and, after Geordan Murphy dummied his way into space, O'Driscoll was on hand to finish it as well, gathering Murphy's deflected pass in the crook of his left elbow and tiptoeing down the right touchline to score his 26th try for his country in 57 games.

The eruption of noise only served to underline how subdued the home crowd had frequently been as Ireland battled not only with England's bristling pack but with their own demons. Favouritism is not their favourite mantle and the place fell deathly quiet after only seven minutes when England scored one of the softest tries donated to a visiting side here for some time.

A routine ruck had formed 30 metres from the Irish line but the nearest defender, Ronan O'Gara, was taken out and Corry galloped unchecked through an enormous hole to score. Had England won, the Irish coach Eddie O'Sullivan would have been equally disgruntled. "Any coach sees the game through their own spectacles," he said afterwards, insisting O'Gara had been illegally obstructed.

It took two O'Gara penalties, to add to a fourth-minute drop-goal, to reclaim the lead for Ireland and, despite a fine penalty from the halfway line by the defiant Hodgson, it was Ireland who went in 12-10 ahead at the interval thanks to a wobbly drop-goal from O'Gara that crept over via a post.

The home side continued to walk on eggshells for much of the second half as England grew in confidence and built on an initial game plan as old as the Book of Kells: no nonsense up front and frequent application of boot to ball. The visitors even regained the lead briefly through a Hodgson drop-goal and, without O'Driscoll's try, the seeds of doubt in Irish minds would really have started to germinate. Instead the fateful English lineout drive to the left corner failed to convince Kaplan and they were safe.

O'Driscoll, for one, was more than happy to take the victory and run. "Sure we got the bounce of the ball and a couple of decisions but when you get days like that you have to jump on the back of them." The rub of the green is assuredly with Ireland at present.